'Art in restaurants is on the same level as food in museums - Niles Crane'
Turf Projects, Croydon
14th August - 4th October 2015

Curated by Lauren Godfrey, with work by: 

Erik Benjamins
Kathrin Böhm
Alex Brenchley
Celine Condorelli
Mike Cooter
Simon Dybbroe Møller
George Little
Bruce McLean
Bella Pace
Amanda Ross-Ho
Ettore Sottsass for Alessi


‘“Art in restaurants is on the same level as food in museums” – Niles Crane’, is an exhibition exploring the positioning of food and art within each other’s spaces. Although perhaps not traditionally contextualised together, food and art commonly occupy the same environments, even fusing together at times, with food represented in art – or even as art – in both the gallery and restaurant.

As restaurants or cafes have now become the standard within most major museums, and with art adorning the walls of many a dining establishment, each are exploited in the other’s space as an added level of engagement. But to speak of ‘levels’ of food and art is also to bring about their similarities, as potential sources of enjoyment, fulfilment and creativity yes, but also as being both highly concerned with satisfying personal and cultural tastes – and what value we might put on doing so.

For this exhibition Turf’s gallery space is transformed into an ambiguous restaurant-style environment, but the menu here undeniably is art. Encouraging our own reflections on the place-based distinctions between art and food, curator Lauren Godfrey has sourced tables and chairs that double up as plinths for other works, whilst Bella Pace’s commissioned sign adds a further dimension to the site-specificity of the show.

Featuring the work of eleven emerging and established artists, and accompanied by a text from Lauren Godfrey, the show draws on historical representations of food in art, as well as current conceptualisations of how the two come together. Considering some of the institutional and conceptual frameworks around food and art, it further draws upon their status as both sensorial and social objects.

Visitors are invited to consider these relationships through their own choices and definitions in the space, whilst a series of events accompanying the exhibition encourage further live interaction with these ideas.

The exhibition was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Arts Council England and Mayor of London.

'Nuovo Milano' Cutlery by Ettore Sottsass for Alessi

Alex Brenchley

Erik Benjamins

'Nuovo Milano' Cutlery by Ettore Sottsass for Alessi

George Little

'Nuovo Milano' Cutlery by Ettore Sottsass for Alessi

Simon Dybbroe Møller

Alex Brenchley

Celine Condorelli, Mike Cooter

Kathrin Böhm

George Little

Alex Brenchley

Simon Dybbroe Møller

Bella Pace

Bruce McLean

Install shot with Amanda Ross Ho and George Little

Install shot with (left to right) Simon Dybbroe Møller, Alex Brenchley and George Little
(on table, Erik Benjamins) 

Install shot with (left to right) Bella Pace, George Little, Kathrin Böhm (COMPANY), Amanda Ross Ho. (on table, Ettore Sottsass, on chair, Alex Brenchley)